Blind to Justice

Is this goodbye? Chen shakes hands with Locke, right, on May 2, the day he left Beijing's U.S. embassy for the hospital

Visiting hours at Chaoyang hospital in Beijing are generally from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The hospital operator readily gave that information, but she stumbled when it came to the VIP inpatient ward where legal activist Chen Guangcheng had been confined since emerging from six days of refuge at the U.S. embassy. "I can't connect you to that section," she said curtly. "Their phone is under repair."

In the days since Chen left American protection on May 2, the blind activist has been isolated from the world, with even U.S. diplomats mostly...